Tank Dell talks about his recovery and his talk with Jarod Wayne

Summary

Payne & Pendergast — Tank Dell Talks Recovery, Team Dynamics & More

Episode Date: August 10, 2026
Hosts: Seth Payne & Sean "Pendergast"
Topic: Tank Dell’s injury recovery, relationship with Jarod Wayne, Texans roster implications, and more

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into Tank Dell’s ongoing recovery from a significant knee injury, exploring both the physical and mental aspects of his journey back to the field. Payne and Pendergast break down Dell’s recent media availability, his mindset during rehab, his interactions with teammate Jarod Wayne, and how his return might shake up the Texans’ wide receiver room. The hosts also touch on broader sports stories, including Hall of Fame moments and curious campus traditions.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Tank Dell’s Recovery Update

• Tank’s Perspective on Recovery:

  • Dell is cautious but optimistic, emphasizing a “one day at a time” approach to returning (“Right now we just taking it one day at a time. Like I said, it's light at the end of the tunnel for sure, I'll be out there.” — Tank Dell, 00:32).
  • He’s been participating in individual drills but not yet against defenders. Physically, his movements look crisp in practice.
  • Quote: “If you walked out on the field and you didn’t know anything about Tank Dell...you’d think, who’s that little guy?...You wouldn’t think...he’s recovering from an injury.” — Seth Payne, 00:50

• Milestones & Next Steps:

  • Dell is out of “hardcore recovery” but not yet in full team action. The natural progression outlined is individual drills → 7-on-7s → full team periods → preseason games (01:40).

• Mental Challenge of Rehab:

  • The major hurdle is mental: “The mental aspect of it is, like, the hardest thing you gotta get over.” — Tank Dell, 04:23
  • He describes learning to “trust the process” and advice from Dr. Lowe to “let loose, like, and trust it and be you, because it’s 100% stable” (04:23).
  • Notable Analogy: Seth compares trusting a repaired knee to trusting an airplane in turbulence—if you compensate or favor the knee, you're more likely to injure yourself elsewhere (05:17).

Learning a New Offense, Staying Sharp

• Football IQ & Preparation:

  • Tank has stayed mentally engaged, learning the new offense under Nick Caylee, attending walkthroughs, and running plays at home with his brothers (07:37).
  • “I'm a student of the game...so I was just taking the time by myself to, you know, learn [the] offense. So it's cool.” — Tank Dell, 07:37

• Tank’s Engagement:

  • Coaches and teammates have kept him actively involved; mental reps are emphasized as critical (08:11).

The Jarod Wayne Incident: Clearing the Air

• Context:

  • The knee injury originated when Jarod Wayne collided with Dell during a play.
  • Jarod Wayne faced harsh social-media criticism from fans in the aftermath.

• Tank’s Forgiveness & Brotherhood:

  • “It was a genuine mistake. Nobody wanted to take out their own guy…I told him, man, it’s good. God got me, like, ease up, man. Go play. Go have fun. Play football. I’ll be back.” — Tank Dell, 10:14
  • No hard feelings remain: “That’s my brother. So we cool.”

• Hosts’ Reflection:

  • The situation highlights the unspoken code among players: injuries happen, and holding grudges is rare unless there's obvious malice (11:14).

Relationship with C.J. Stroud

• Support System:
  • Dell describes C.J. Stroud as “my brother, like, to the end, with or without football,” praising his steadfast support through calls, visits, prayers, and off-field time (11:38).
  • Their close bond, both personal and professional, is a recurring theme for the team and the hosts (12:12).

Family Support in Recovery

• Lighthearted Take:
  • Dell’s younger brother played a big part, helping with chores and keeping spirits high during the toughest days of recovery:
  • “That was like my little maid around the house...He was just with me the whole time, man. He shed tears with me, you know, he was on my side every step of the way.” — Tank Dell, 13:15

Texans’ WR Depth and Tank’s Roster Outlook

• Roster Conundrum:

  • The Texans have an abundance of viable wide receivers, making the decision on Dell’s status for Week 1 difficult.
  • Options include being active, inactive, or on some IR designation; no one believes he’ll be cut due to his talent and relationship with C.J. Stroud (16:26, 16:44).

• Fan Poll Results:

  • 40.5% predict Tank will be active Week 1; 38.1% see him on the 53-man roster but inactive; only 3% think he’ll be cut (17:44).
  • “There’s too many viable NFL wide receivers right now…to shoehorn Tank in there.” — Seth, 19:12
  • Dell could see special package/limited action early in the season (19:42).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Tank Dell on Rehabilitation (Trust & Mindset):

  • “If I went out there, like, iffy about what I’m doing, then I probably would never be able to come back to what I wanna be.” (04:23)

• Hosts' Banter on CJ & Tank's Future:

  • “Maybe Tank and CJ can have a compound in Bridgeland...houses side by side. Kids will grow up together and everything.” — Sean, 12:38

• Family Humor:

  • “That was like my little maid around the house when I couldn’t walk for a little bit.” — Tank Dell, 13:15

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[Timestamps for Key Segments]

• Tank Dell Injury Update & Mental Recovery
  00:32 – 06:50

• Learning New Offense, Staying Engaged
  06:56 – 09:19

• Clearing the Air with Jarod Wayne
  09:19 – 10:42

• Support from C.J. Stroud
  11:26 – 12:12

• Dell’s Little Brother’s Role in Rehab
  13:15 – 13:54

• Texans WR Group & Predicting Dell’s Status
  15:46 – 19:42

• Fan Poll Discussion
  17:44 – 18:11

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Additional Highlights

• Cultural Sidebar: Extensive, humorous discussion of Hall of Fame speeches (e.g., Drew Brees, Adam Vinatieri) and lighter moments like the Cornell bear-butchering rule (33:01).
• Recurring Themes: Brotherhood, resilience, role of family and faith in sports recovery culture.

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Takeaways

• Optimism about Dell’s Return: Physically, Tank looks good. Mentally, he’s past the toughest part, and both coaches and hosts believe he’ll contribute this season, even if not in Week 1.
• Strong Locker Room Ties: Dell’s relationships—with C.J. Stroud, other teammates, and family—are core to his recovery story.
• No Drama with Wayne: Both players have moved on maturely from the incident.
• Roster Questions Remain: Absence of a set timeline keeps speculation alive, but Tank’s upside is undeniable.

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This episode offers insightful context for Texans fans and anyone interested in the emotional and mental aspects of injury recovery in the NFL, with signature Payne & Pendergast humor and analysis.

Transcript

[Maddie]

Hey, y', all, I'm Maddie. And I'm Poodle.

[Poodle]

And together we host the podcast Reality Gays. We are two ridiculous homosexuals who love

[Maddie]

nothing more than talking about reality television

[Poodle]

and tearing in a new one.

[Maddie]

So whether it's 90 day fiance love

[Poodle]

is Blind Love after lockup, or any other trash TV show about lonely hearts looking for love, your gay bestie's got you covered, y'.

[Tank Dell]

All.

[Maddie]

New shows every week.

[Poodle]

Follow and listen to Reality Gays wherever you get your podcast. Reality Gays, let's love. Yeah.

[Tank Dell]

Right now we just taking it one day at a time. Like I said, it's light at the end of the tunnel for sure I'll be out there. But we just taking it one day at a time, so that's all we do.

[Maddie]

Okay. That was Tank Dell. When does he hope to return? He's just taking it day by day. He did say there's light at the end of the tunnel, Seth. Tank Dell. So we'll see.

[Poodle]

Yeah, I, you know what, he was talking about his rehab in the past tense a lot. You'll notice on a couple of these that I like in terms of some of the. He posted him running a route on his Instagram and it was. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it looked really, really good. Yeah, I mean, everything he does, he looks really crisp. If you walked out on the field and you didn't know anything about Tank Dell or his last couple of years and you saw him play, you'd think, who's that little guy? Yeah, that is. Wow. Who the hell is that? So you wouldn't think, oh, that's

[Tank Dell]

boy,

[Poodle]

that it looks like he might be fast, but he's recovering from an injury. No, there's none of that.

[Maddie]

No, there's none of that. Now we should caveat. He has not gone against any defenders yet in anything that he's done out here.

[Poodle]

Now that we've seen out here, you know, they've said that he's doing some other stuff, you know, when they're not out here at practice and everything, but I don't know. I don't know if they're like getting together a bunch of the rookies to, you know, play press coverage against him.

[Maddie]

Yeah, we just don't know. We just don't know. But Tank Dell. Tank Dell met with the media on Friday. We're going to get into a few of the cuts here in just a second. Before we do, I thought, and you tell me if I'm reading too much into this. I thought it was significant that they let Tank do A media session on Friday. They don't, they don't normally put guys in front of the media who are in hardcore recovery mode from an like still in the recovery phase. Yeah, they just don't.

[Poodle]

They care. Okay, let me ask you first, then, did we read into it all the fact that Henry Towa Toa did his media availability the day before they ended up announcing that he had an extension?

[Maddie]

No, that doesn't impact that he. I don't get the correlation.

[Poodle]

There was big news that was about to come out with Henry Toa Toa. So they put him up there and, you know, and there's big news the next day. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know. We had a bunch of sound bites ready to go and everything. The Texans media people do as a solid every now and then with stuff like that.

[Maddie]

Yeah, I would think. I know the Toa Toa. They might have come out of nowhere because I would be thinking to be more inclined to put him up there after he signs a contract than before, because that's what they did with Aziz and Will.

[Poodle]

So. No, I don't know. I think that Tank's one of the bigger stories and I think people nationally have a lot of questions about Tank right now. I mean, there might have been requests from outside of Houston for people wanting to get. Wanting to get some Tank Dell quotes. So I'm trying not to read into that because honestly, everything he said, everything he said in his press conference is in line with everything we've heard already, which is it's going to be. There's no real solid timeline that it's. They're going to go step by step, and every step that they take seems to be minuscule. It was the, the one big step last week was he's out there in shoulder pads. All right. But he's still not doing anything extra or more than he was before. So the next. I mean, the next big step would be if we see him out here in seven. On seven.

[Maddie]

Yes.

[Poodle]

And then after that is in a team period, and then after that's in a preseason game. So I don't. This could be the week where. All right, it's the first preseason game. He's not going to play in that one. But maybe he's out there for seven on seven this week, and then maybe he's out there for team periods next week, and then maybe he makes an appearance in the third preseason.

[Maddie]

So you're saying like Henry was. You thought that was maybe purposeful that he did his press?

[Poodle]

I was just asking the day before,

[Maddie]

and that maybe this is a prelude to Tank doing more out here at practice today or something like that.

[Poodle]

Yeah, maybe.

[Maddie]

I mean, we don't know. It's still a lot of mystery with Tank. This is Tank Dell, very first cut from his press conference. He was asked about the rehab process, and he said the hardest part was the mental part.

[Tank Dell]

I'll say mentally, it's just about trusting. Trusting that the work you put in, like, prior to going out there to do those things, like, prior to going out there to put your foot in the ground, trusting the process with the training staff and what they had set out for me. So when I got out here, I wasn't scared. And I was talking to my doctor, Dr. Lowe, and I was just asking, like, he was just telling me, let loose, like, and trust it and be you, because it's 100% stable. So when he told me that I just came out and was putting my foot in the ground, I didn't care about it. Try not to think about it. Cause during your process, like, the mental aspect of it is, like, the hardest thing you gotta get over. So if I went out there, like, iffy about what I'm doing, then I probably would never be able to come back to what I wanna be. So I was just out there just trusting it, putting my foot in the ground, trying to be explosive, and it's working in my favor.

[Poodle]

So, you know, as he was telling that story about Dr. Lowe saying that and Dr. Laura, he cut me open a bunch of times. I love Dr. Lowe.

[Maddie]

Yeah.

[Poodle]

And I think he gave me some similar advice long, long, long ago. And it's true. It's. It's kind of like trusting an airplane in turbulence. People don't realize just how strong those airplanes are. And that turbulence isn't going to be the thing that it's not going to break up just because there's violent turbulence and everything. And a surgically repaired knee is kind of like that, too. You're more likely to. You're more likely to get injured once everything's stable. You're more likely to get injured if you're. If you are compensating and if you are kind of easing up a little bit, you might injure something else somewhere else in your anatomical chain. So just to trust it, and if anything, just really, like, lean into testing it, you know, and know that I can stick my foot in the ground and get moving. And that's what it's looked like out there. It doesn't look like he's, like. He's Favoring anything at all.

[Maddie]

You had multiple surgeries. Was it the first surgery that you had where you had to come back from it?

[Poodle]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

Was that hard to do that? And did it get easier with all the subsequent surgeries?

[Poodle]

Yeah, it's easier to just go for it and you stop caring. You know what? You stopped catastrophizing injuries, and I just stopped caring about whether I got injured or not. So it wasn't like I almost had a sick. Like, my strategy for being sure I didn't favor it was to almost psychologically be like, no, I'm gonna try to tear it. I'm going to. I'm going to play so hard that I'm going to tear it at bleep you.

[Maddie]

Yeah.

[Poodle]

You know, and so, yeah, it does. It gets easier with time and when you have more surgeries. Now, ideally, I would prefer to have not had to mentally strong at doing that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Maddie]

That's.

[Poodle]

But.

[Maddie]

But.

[Poodle]

But you get comfortable that, you know, Cushing, I think, was. Had kind of the same mindset.

[Maddie]

Yep. So this was Tank Dell again. Tank Dell met with the media on Friday. This was something that we asked Nick Casario about several months ago, because I'd seen some Texan fans, you know, when they start talking about Tank coming back this year going, well, you know, last time he was playing, it was Bobby Slowik offense. It wasn't this Nick Caylee offense. And I remember asking Nick about that part of it with Tank, you know, if and when he comes back getting into the offense, you know, from. From a mental and X's and O standpoint. And Nick was almost like, no, Tank is. I mean, he was like, really defending Tank's football intellect when we asked that question of him. Tank was asked about it on Friday, and he said, he's a student of the game.

[Tank Dell]

I feel like anything you do in life, you're gonna have to get reps at it. So. But as far as knowing my plays, I'm a student of the game. So every day, like, I'm in there walkthroughs. I know y' all know otas I was doing, like, walkthroughs. They was implement, implement, implement. Damn. Yes. Into the office. So I was doing walkthroughs and stuff like that. And on my. You know, I have, like, my brothers at home call to play out, and I just walk through it on my own. And so being a student on the game, that's easy for me because I love it. So I was just taking the time by myself to, you know, learn often. So it's cool.

[Poodle]

Yeah, the mental reps really, really matter. And especially when you're walking through it and doing all of that stuff. I mean, doing everything in real time. Obviously there's a matter when you're healthy, you know. Yeah. But, like, it's like. So if you do all that stuff and do the mental reps, then there is an adjustment when you start doing it in real time. But I think that he's been so active and involved. I was talking to. I was talking to Bill Lazer out here the other day. He's the special defensive assistant, but, you know, he's a longtime offensive coordinator. But he was talking about his son. His son's a quarterback at Brown, and he's. He was injured last year, and what he told. What he told his son was in talking to the coaches at Brown was, hey, give him some jobs to do, like to stay involved. Just, you know, so. So he's not just sitting there passively, whether it's him relaying calls or writing calls down on the sideline and everything. And I think Tank has been really. He's just been around. It seems like he's been involved and really learning that offense more on a functional level, the way the team is. So it's not like him just learning it in a book and then showing up and trying to go out there and do it. I think that. That part I'm not worried about.

[Maddie]

Yep, me neither. Okay, so this was a good one. Somebody asked him. Somebody asked Tank about Jared Wayne. And of course, if you saw it, you remember it. But Tank and Jarred Wayne found themselves in the same part of the field in the end zone. And Jared Wayne going to the ground, hit Tank's knee. And that's what did it to Tank, was Jarred Wayne hitting Tank in the knee and tearing all those ligaments.

[Poodle]

This led to a whole lot of social media hatred on Jared Wayne over these past couple years on his birthday. Right, right.

[Maddie]

Happy birthday, Jared Wayne.

[Poodle]

And I'm sorry to tell everybody, but Jarod Wayne is having a really good camp. So he shows up over and over and over again.

[Maddie]

Imagine if Jared Wayne makes this team and Tank doesn't. Not only G hurt his knee, you took his spot on the roster.

[Poodle]

The mic drop for Jared Wayne there.

[Maddie]

Mission accomplished. Here is. Here's Tank relaying or conveying the story about the communication he had with Jared Wayne after the injury.

[Tank Dell]

He wrote me, like. He wrote me, like, right after it happened, but I wasn't on my phone like that, so I ain't really sit. But then when I got back to him, you know, I told him, like, ease up, yo. Like, it's football, you know? And I know it was a genuine mistake. Nobody wanted to take out their own guy. Not even another guy, like, today. So it was a mistake. I told him, man, it's good. God got me, like, ease up, man. Go play. Go have fun. Play football. I'll be back. So it was cool, you know, and it's no hard feeling. That's my brother. So we cool.

[Poodle]

I feel bad for Jarod Wayne and however long that period was where Tank wasn't checking his phone or texting people back or anything, you know, when you.

[Maddie]

When you think someone's mad at you, you know.

[Poodle]

Yeah. You apologize or something. And then the longer that goes without a response, you're. Oh, boy. They. I really screwed it up.

[Maddie]

Not accept.

[Poodle]

And then all of a sudden, it turns out that. Yeah, they're like, oh, no. I was at a. Yeah, I was. I was at a. I was at a retreat with no phone for a week. We're all good, right?

[Maddie]

Yeah. As far as people, you know, to hurt their knee. Jared Wayne couldn't have picked a nicer human being than Tank Dell.

[Poodle]

Yeah, it's. Yeah. And that's largely, like, guys don't. I can't try to pick a Guys. Yeah, guys don't usually get. You got to be kind of petty to get upset at somebody that just.

[Maddie]

Yeah.

[Poodle]

Totally accidentally injured.

[Maddie]

Yeah. No, he didn't do it on purpose. This was Tank Dell talking about C.J. stroud. We all know Tank Dell and C.J. stroud. Very close friends. How did that relationship go throughout your rehab?

[Tank Dell]

Hey, man. This long process. He was with me the whole time, from the first day it happened to today. Like, long conversations. I go to his house. He come to my house. Like, long conversations about the future that we want to build with each other on. On the field and stuff like that. But off the field, bro, just being a brother to me, sending me scripture, praying for me, just hanging out with me, you know, having fun. Y' all saw us off the court during the off season. Like, I was with him a lot, so it's the same. Like, that's my brother, like, to the end, with or without football. So, like, you know how that goes. So he was with me the whole time.

[Maddie]

Okay. No surprise there. CJ Stroud and Tank Dell are very close.

[Poodle]

The future that we want to build together in.

[Maddie]

Did you and Gary Walker sit around talking about the future?

[Poodle]

Planned our future together in football. Football, yeah. Like I said, you know, I'd like to have a. You know, maybe a place out. Place out in the suburbs. You know, where we can go. We get to maybe have a half practice field out in our backyard.

[Maddie]

Planning a place out in Bridgeland.

[Poodle]

Oh, yeah, that's true. Yeah.

[Maddie]

Yeah.

[Poodle]

They were, like, side by side. They can't have a compound.

[Maddie]

Yeah.

[Poodle]

Maybe Tank and CJ can have a compound in Bridgeland.

[Tank Dell]

Yeah.

[Poodle]

Houses side by side. Kids will grow up together and everything.

[Maddie]

It gave me a lot of time to reflect on the different fixtures I'd want in my house out in Bridgeland, just sitting there.

[Poodle]

Yeah, they're going through restoration hardware catalogs, coordinating their interior. Interior decors and all that.

[Maddie]

All right, one more from Tankdale. This is just a funny one. I guess his little brother was around with him throughout his rehab. Tankdale's actual biological brother, as opposed to his team brothers like Jared Wayne and C.J. stroud. And he said having him around was a big help during recovery.

[Tank Dell]

That was like my little maid around the house when I couldn't walk for a little bit. Like, he was like, if I. Like, if I go to walk down the stairs, he'll be by me, like, trying to hold me and stuff. Like, he was like, go get a water for me, bro. He'll go run to the bath. I'm gonna run to the kitchen, get a water. So that's my guy, man. He'll spit an image of me. He love the game. He love to learn. He love to go out there and play football on his own with my brothers. They be in the house throwing the ball, and I be telling them not to. But, you know, he love it and he love me, so he was just with me the whole time, man. He shed tears with me, you know, he was on my side every step of the way. When I get back, when I was working out in the back, he in the back trying to work out with me. So you know how that goes.

[Poodle]

So, yeah, if there's one thing I know about. I don't know how old his brother is, I don't either.

[Maddie]

I want to know.

[Poodle]

Let's say he's 12 years old. If there's one thing I know, they love being referred to as little maids.

[Maddie]

I want to know how old his brother is.

[Poodle]

I first, I couldn't hear the question.

[Maddie]

The ball in the house.

[Poodle]

I couldn't hear the question. And it was. I think he answered this one after the question about CJ Stroud. And I thought he was talking about CJ Stroud. And I Know. See, I know CJ probably didn't want to be referred to as his Tank's little maid. Yeah. But he was talking about his little

[Maddie]

brother wear this outfit.

[Poodle]

Yes. That's cool. No, but it sounds like he really got his brothers involved in. Yeah.

[Maddie]

And they were throwing the ball around the house, and Tank had to tell him, stop throwing the ball in that. Tank had to be like a parent.

[Poodle]

Well, you know, Keelan Rutledge told the story within the loop about how he's been snapping the ball 150 times a day to his wife, too.

[Maddie]

Yeah.

[Poodle]

So a lot of. A lot of family support from these guys.

[Maddie]

That's it, man. That's a football. What is it? Football, Faith and family. Yeah, that's.

[Poodle]

Well, it's supposed to go faith, family, football.

[Maddie]

I think I would say I'd put in parentheses, in no particular order.

[Poodle]

Yeah, I can see where your power. Well, what they're supposed to do is what football coaches want to do is lie and say that it's faith, family football, when in reality, the vast majority of really successful football coaches football in

[Maddie]

a much bigger font way at the time.

[Poodle]

However, I can squeeze family and faith in as long as football remains umaro uno.

[Maddie]

All right, let me ask you this question that I posed to the Twitterverse over the weekend with respect to Tank Dell. So Tank has done media now. He's been out here at practice doing some things. We're starting to see more of him.

[Poodle]

Why does it feel like nobody really gives us the inside scoop? Join us on the Powers that Be, the podcast where insiders from Puck break down who has influence, how they use it, and what it actually means for you. New episodes every weekday. Listen to the Powers that Be wherever you get your podcasts. Yeah.

[Maddie]

So we. But to your point, in terms of, like, where this whole thing's going, we still got limited information. We haven't even seen him go. We haven't seen him go against other people. We don't know what he's doing behind the scenes, so. But with that information, we can always guess. It's not illegal to guess at things. What would you guess? Best guess for Tank status in week one. I put a poll out there. I'm curious what your opinion is as well.

[Poodle]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

On the 53 man roster and active on game day. So tanks back.

[Poodle]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

Number two on the 53 man roster, but inactive on week one. Number three on some injured reserve designation.

[Poodle]

Right.

[Maddie]

Number four.

[Poodle]

Oh, cut. Oh, cut. Okay. I think, honestly, I think that. Not that you want to kowtow to your starting Quarterback all the time. But I do feel like there's an element of how close he and CJ Are. That aside from any football considerations, I don't think there's a chance in hell he's cut. I don't think so.

[Tank Dell]

You know what?

[Maddie]

I don't. That's a good point because I think C.J. seems like he's in a great place mentally right now. Yeah.

[Poodle]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Maddie]

And I think the last thing you want to do is cut his best friend.

[Poodle]

Yeah. Yeah. So. And then with all the football considerations, I still think that they. They see the upside in having Tank Dell around.

[Maddie]

Yes.

[Poodle]

I think most likely because he can't be on the PUP because he wasn't on the PUP at the start of training camp.

[Maddie]

That's right.

[Poodle]

So it would have to be one of those. He's not going to get cut. I think the best possibility, given where. I don't. I don't think right now, I don't think we're going to see a whole lot of them in a preseason game. Maybe we'll see some in the combined practices against other teams, but I'd be kind of surprised if they do that, too. So I'm going to say he's probably on the roster, but inactive on game day.

[Maddie]

Okay, so that's your guess.

[Poodle]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

What do you think the people think?

[Poodle]

I think the people think the same as I do.

[Maddie]

Okay. The people. The people. They don't. But it's very close.

[Poodle]

Okay.

[Maddie]

It's very close.

[Poodle]

The.

[Maddie]

The. Not the majority, but the most. The plurality think that he's going to be active week one.

[Poodle]

Oh, okay.

[Maddie]

40.5% of Texan fans voting in this poll. Several hundred voters say that he'll be active in week one. 38.1%, so almost the exact same amount say he'll be on the 53 but inactive in week one. 18.4% say he'll be on injured reserve. Only 3% say he's going to be cut.

[Poodle]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

And I would agree with. I think cut. I. I can't. Unless there's just some drastic thing that happens with him medically between now and the end of camp. And even then, I think they'd keep him here on injured reserve just because they like having him around.

[Poodle]

Yeah, I think that there's 3% high

[Maddie]

is what I'm saying.

[Poodle]

Right, right, right. The tough part right now with the numbers is that with Tank Dell only doing so much so far, maybe they. Maybe they really start moving along through the process. There's just. There's too Many viable NFL wide receivers right now that could be a functioning part of your offense in case Nico or Jaden Higgins went down. Whether it's, you know, obviously, you've got Nico, you've got Jaden Higgins, you got Jalen Noel, you've got Xavier Hutchinson, you've got Jared Wayne. Well, let's say Justin Watson. Justin Watson.

[Maddie]

That's five.

[Poodle]

That's five right there. And then the young guys and. Or let's put Jared Wayne and Louis Bond and like some of the. Like, even Josh Kelly is showing up.

[Maddie]

Josh Kelly's made plays.

[Poodle]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

Yeah.

[Poodle]

Sopkowitz keeps showing up pretty consistently. The undrafted rookie free agent. He's a very big wild card. I'm guessing he's going to be on the practice squad this year, but I think in week one, there's just too many viable guys that you could rely on for a heavy number of snapshots that they'd want to have out there on the field to shoehorn Tank in there.

[Maddie]

The clock's ticking.

[Poodle]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

Like there's some. There's gonna be. If Jared Wayne and Louis Bond keep playing the way that they are at camp and it translates in the games, then this Tank Delt thing becomes quite the conundrum for the Texans.

[Poodle]

But I do think, though, that if. I think that depending on health of everybody else, I think there's room for Tank in limited action and in special packages where he could be lethal for you.

[Maddie]

Yeah, man.

[Poodle]

Without having to. You just all of a sudden, you know, roll everybody out in a hurry up. And Tanks on the field and teams don't quite know what to expect from him. That he could be that. But it might not be week one.

[Maddie]

All right, let's get to Acknowledge Me. We acknowledge big performances from over the weekend, noteworthy things that were done that have been done. We do it every Monday. I will say a name or in one case, a series of names. And Byron, our producer, back in studio, will play Roman Reigns.

[Poodle]

Acknowledge me.

[Maddie]

So let's start. I want to start with Kirk Cousins.

[Poodle]

Acknowledge me.

[Maddie]

Good job. Byron got into a scrap with Max Crosby at Raiders practice over the weekend.

[Poodle]

Crosby's getting a little too frisky with the qb. Turns out Crosby, who. Look, he's been acting like he's super happy to be back with the Raiders, but it also feels like he's probably got a chip on his shoulder about the fact that they tried to trade him away. Yep. And probably would have traded him again if anybody if the circumstances had worked out.

[Maddie]

And they still.

[Poodle]

And we've seen on The Netflix series Quarterback that. You see how he treats Pat Mahomes. Always kind of like giving a little bit of extra or something, hitting him on the helmet when nobody's looking. I wonder if it was stuff like that, that Kirk Cousins had just had enough. And Kirk Cousins stood up for himself and set boundaries.

[Maddie]

He did. He set boundaries. He got into a scrape with Max Crosby. If I had to just look at the two of them, I'd say, kirk Cousins, you're gonna lose that scrape. But he didn't care. He wasn't scared.

[Poodle]

They were both held out of the next practice.

[Maddie]

Were. Yeah. Clint Kubiak laying down the law.

[Poodle]

So I don't know. So Kubiak. I wonder. I wonder what Cousins. I wonder what the reason for holding Cousins out was.

[Maddie]

I was, like, getting into fights.

[Poodle]

I know, but he's like. But were punches thrown or were they just face to face?

[Maddie]

Yeah, I'm not sure. I'm not sure now if he.

[Poodle]

If he.

[Maddie]

If Kirk Cousins is throwing punches, especially Max Crosby had a helmet on.

[Poodle]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

Then he should be sat out of practice for being dumb.

[Poodle]

Yeah. It's setting a bad example for Fernando Mendoza. All right, so you know Fernando Mendoza, he's a fighter. You know, Mendoza's probably watched a TED Talk on mediation techniques and everything.

[Maddie]

No, he would congratulate Max Crosby on beating the snot out of it. Good job. Okay. Drew Brees, Larry Fitzgerald, Luke Keakley, Adam Vinatieri, Roger Craig.

[Poodle]

Acknowledge me.

[Maddie]

That is the 2026 hall of Fame class that went into the hall of Fame this weekend. I would say the headliner out of all of those is probably Drew Brees, super bowl winning quarterback. This is Drew Brees with his salute to New Orleans. New Orleans.

[Poodle]

You accepted me, you embraced me, you

[Maddie]

believed in me, but more importantly, you

[Poodle]

trusted me with the soul of the city. And I would have died to protect that calling.

[Maddie]

Yeah. Kids, for those of you that don't know, Drew Brees signed with the Saints right after Katrina.

[Poodle]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

And the city was a mess, you know, psychologically, actually, you know, like. And Drew Brees. Drew Brees and the Saints kind of, you know, from at least a sporting standpoint kind of saved the city.

[Poodle]

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, no, he did. He did. You know what made me cringe a little bit was when he said, I would have died for you. Because it's one of the things all these offensive linemen are saying it when they get drafted now.

[Maddie]

Oh, yeah.

[Poodle]

Mercery said it. Yeah. Like, Will Campbell said it. I'll die for you, man. I'll be Like. All right, let's. Let's settle down with the drama, okay, guys? Okay, kids, the melodrama is a bit much, all right? Let's not act like you're going off the war.

[Maddie]

Can he please not have a moment? Yeah, can he just not have a moment?

[Poodle]

I didn't realize he was out there in a flat bottom boat during Katrina saving people when nobody else dared to go in.

[Maddie]

Yeah, trust me, I would have died for you.

[Poodle]

Believe me. Tr. Truthfully, I would have died for you.

[Maddie]

All right, so now the guy that got the most.

[Poodle]

There's opportunities to die for people every day. If you really want one. That's true. You can go and find one, right?

[Maddie]

Especially in New Orleans.

[Poodle]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Maddie]

Just go out after midnight.

[Poodle]

All right? I never told anybody, but I was an undercover vice cop for three years when I first got there.

[Maddie]

All right, so the. The. I would say of all of the five inductees, the one that got the most viral run over the weekend was Adam Vinatieri.

[Poodle]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

The hall of fame.

[Poodle]

Lemonade. Fresh squeezed lemonade.

[Maddie]

Lemonade.

[Tank Dell]

Oh, nuts.

[Poodle]

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[Maddie]

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[Poodle]

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[Poodle]

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[Maddie]

Kicker for the Patriots and the Colts. And this was Adam Vinatieri. So let's judge his comedic chop. Seth. All right, this is Adam Vinatieri taking a jab at the great Tom Brady.

[Poodle]

I was lucky enough to play with

[Maddie]

the greatest quarterback in Patriot history. Unfortunately, he was unable to make it here today.

[Poodle]

Drew Bloodsell. I had a few more Tom Brady

[Maddie]

jokes, but I was afraid that he'd run up on the stage and maybe give me a Will Smith like he did to Logan Paul last month.

[Poodle]

Yeah, that deserved the laughter.

[Maddie]

It was. Was that real laughter or was that.

[Poodle]

It's his hall of fame polite laughter? He had. He had all kinds of jokes, and he was kind of. When did he play with Drew Brees? Who? Oh, did I.

[Maddie]

He said tom Brady.

[Poodle]

Yeah. No, but he said. What was the Drew Brees part of that joke?

[Maddie]

No, Drew Bledsoe.

[Poodle]

Oh, Bledsoe. Bledo.

[Tank Dell]

All right.

[Poodle]

I had Drew Brees on my mind from the greatest Patriot. Yeah, I got you. Ye. Yeah. I Wasn't paying attention because he's such a dork. He was really a dork in this. It was. I just. I was like, man, I don't know who told him it was a good idea to tell these jokes, but they were not good. They were good. Some of them were good jokes, but he did not deliver them well at all.

[Maddie]

Well, the delivery is the big thing. I thought, that's a funny Tom Brady joke. If I were just reading, I'm like, that's pretty good. Like this Bill Belichick 1. If delivered by somebody with comedic chops.

[Poodle]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Maddie]

Here is Adam Vitieri taking a jab at Bill Belichick. I would repeat those last few statements about coach Bill Belichick as well. Thank you for demanding excellence every single day. Your preparation, discipline, and attention to detail shaped far more than my football career. Unfortunately, Bill couldn't make it here today. There's a lot going on at UNC right now. He may be on a recruiting trip right now looking for the next Lawrence Taylor. I thought it was because training camp had already started, but in truth, it's because he's judging his girlfriend's cheerleading competition. See, that one was even worse.

[Poodle]

It was the first laugh. That little chuckle. It was in the script. Chuckle. Oh, he's like, they got some issues going on at unc.

[Maddie]

You're right. Like those brackets. It's a chuckle right there. Oh, my God.

[Poodle]

And the final advice that I'd like to give. Be yourself, children. Always stay true to yourself.

[Maddie]

He told another one he took a jab at McAfee, but this is the kids in the car on the first day back to school.

[Poodle]

Yeah, well, it was that. You know what it was? It was kind of a crude joke. That's a played out joke. Yeah, it was about. It was about, you know, as Pat McAfee is the holder holding balls for adding Vinatieri. And he threw his wife in there. And it was. It's just like a really old, stupid kicker joke and a lot of laughter. Yeah, I guess so. Yeah.

[Maddie]

Just like those other two we just played.

[Poodle]

Minetaria was a huge disappointment to me for guys who are like, so clutch for so long.

[Maddie]

Yeah, that's true. You get in as a kicker, he's clutch. Yeah. And you get in as a kicker, you better come with a good speech. You know what I mean?

[Poodle]

I feel like he had a good speech.

[Maddie]

You better get somebody good to read it for you.

[Poodle]

There's a good speech written out verbatim in front of him.

[Maddie]

It'd be great if he hired an actual comedian to read his speech and he just said that would have been funnier. If he hired a comedian to read his speech and he just sat there with his arms folded. Yeah. Smoking a cigar.

[Poodle]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

Next year's headliners should be Rob Gronkowski and Adrian Peterson. Are those both first ballot guys? I think so. Right?

[Poodle]

I hope Adrian Peterson. I hope Gronk gets up. So apparently it's turning into a roast. The hall of Fame induction. This is just now a Netflix roast. Gronk's gotta get up and make a lot of jokes about slapping people around and everything. Yeah.

[Maddie]

The year after will be J.J. watt and Tom Brady. We got some good headliners coming up.

[Poodle]

Well, is Belichick.

[Maddie]

Belichick should get in this next round. They're saying.

[Poodle]

Okay.

[Maddie]

He was. He didn't make it this past time.

[Poodle]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

But they're saying he should make it this time. We'll see. We'll see.

[Poodle]

Was there any speculation about Belichick not showing up?

[Maddie]

Maybe because he's judging his girlfriend's cheerleading?

[Poodle]

No, no, no. But I'm seriously, was there any speculation about him being petty with the hall of Fame voters?

[Maddie]

Good question. I could totally see that being the case. Yeah, 100%. The new high Mark stadium in Buffalo.

[Poodle]

Acknowledge me.

[Maddie]

I'm acknowledging a stadium, Seth. They had a big event there. I guess this weekend you have family members that are season ticket holders.

[Poodle]

Well, no, not anymore.

[Maddie]

Not anymore. I know.

[Poodle]

He said this PSL stuff. No, no way, man.

[Maddie]

It looked like this was like sort of like a grand opening of the stadium maybe of some sort.

[Poodle]

They let people had a practice and I think they had a practice in it. Yeah. So they went out and practiced on the field for the first time.

[Maddie]

Okay. So there were people, there were fans in the stadium.

[Poodle]

And it starts off poorly just because their new alternate uniforms are atrocious.

[Tank Dell]

Horrible.

[Poodle]

They're just the ugliest things you've ever seen.

[Maddie]

Horrible.

[Poodle]

There's not even any, like, charm to them like that. Some of those Steelers throwbacks that are so ugly. They're beautiful, you know, nothing like that. They're just ugly.

[Maddie]

No, they're ugly. The stadium looks. I mean, from 30,000ft, the stadium looks nice. I'm excited. Amy and I are going there in week eight.

[Poodle]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

For the by with the Texans bye week. We're gonna see the Ravens and the Bills there. There were a few complaints making the rounds, though. Apparently there's a lot of seats with obstructed views.

[Poodle]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

That are very obstructed.

[Poodle]

Oh, really? I can't see an entire Jerry Jones at the super bowl style. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Maddie]

A little bit. A little bit. Yeah. Apparently the overhang doesn't overhang nearly as much as people thought.

[Poodle]

It's not going to protect them from the elements the way they were now the way they thought. Yeah.

[Maddie]

And it's apparently very windy down on the field, too.

[Tank Dell]

Yeah.

[Poodle]

Huh.

[Maddie]

Yeah. Now that's just what I'm reading.

[Poodle]

I'm gonna give her some interesting, you know, for a team that just missed going to the Super Bowl a few years ago with trying to kick a field goal and inclement weather conditions.

[Maddie]

Yeah, good point. Good point. All right.

[Poodle]

Whenever you've got one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, what you really want is a stadium that makes it hard to play quarterback. Yeah, yeah.

[Maddie]

At least he can run.

[Poodle]

Yeah, he's got that.

[Maddie]

Okay, Dave Stevens, acknowledge me. People may not know who Dave Stevens is. Dave Stevens is an Emmy award winning reporter who has no legs. People may have.

[Poodle]

Metaphorically or literally.

[Maddie]

No, literally has no legs. Literally. He's. Yeah, he's just. He has. He has no legs.

[Poodle]

How's Drew Brees fit into all of this?

[Maddie]

So Bryce Young fits into this. So Dave Stevens is at the. He was at the hall of Fame game. Yeah. And he was there. And he's interviewing Bryce Young out at a practice or something. Bryce is in his Carolina jersey with shorts on and. And Bryce is kind of crouched down next to him.

[Poodle]

Yeah. Dave Stevens is down there on the ground.

[Maddie]

On the ground? Yeah, yeah. Like he's not in a wheelchair, Anything.

[Poodle]

Yeah, yeah.

[Maddie]

Literally on the ground with a microphone. And Bryce is kind of crouched down next to him. And I give. Dave Stevens is getting acknowledged because he is a. He is a funny guy and a good sport and maybe someday you'll be

[Poodle]

here and enshrined it. I mean, do you think about things like that?

[Maddie]

Definitely the goal, but that's a long term one.

[Poodle]

You know, can't think too far ahead. Right now.

[Tank Dell]

It's about being the best version of the team.

[Poodle]

We are training camps about finding that.

[Maddie]

So definitely just where my feet are right now. I don't know.

[Poodle]

Speaking of feet, I don't have any, but I was always wondering, if you're a Heisman winner, where do you keep your trophy? Is it in a closet? Is it a paperweight? Where do you keep it?

[Maddie]

My parents have it.

[Tank Dell]

My parents have it.

[Maddie]

Okay. Good recovery by both guys here.

[Poodle]

I thought, dude, as soon as. If you're Bryce Young, I wonder if he realized it as soon as he said it. Just like, you know, right here where my feet are. My two functioning feet.

[Maddie]

The best caption. The best.

[Poodle]

Sorry, pal.

[Maddie]

The best caption, Bryce, is crotch chopping his feet. The best caption I saw was, Bryce, you had one job. Oh, we can laugh because Dave.

[Poodle]

No, Dave. No. He's really good.

[Maddie]

Yeah, he has a good sport about it. All right, last one. Aaron Chin, acknowledge. Who's Aaron Chin? He's one of two Cornell students.

[Poodle]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

Who are the impetus for a new rule passed whereby students can no longer butcher bears in their dorms.

[Poodle]

Oh, this is something. That's good. You know what? I hope this motion forward in 1996, and I'm glad to see it finally grabbed some Grab traction.

[Maddie]

Yeah. So apparently this stems from an incident last year.

[Poodle]

Yeah, I remember that. I remember when this incident was reported, basically a couple of guys had killed a black bear, and they took it into one of the dorm halls, the kitchens, to butcher it.

[Maddie]

To butcher it and make. They literally were gonna make bear pastrami.

[Poodle]

Like, bear pastrami. That's right.

[Maddie]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So. But here's the thing. This is what I learned in this story.

[Poodle]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

They. They killed this bear, like, two hours from campus.

[Poodle]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

And they were supposed to take it to a friend's house to do the butchering, and the friend. The friend had an emergency or something like that, so Chin and the other. And the reason why we know Chin's name and not the other guy. Chin's done, like, a couple podcasts, I guess.

[Poodle]

Yeah.

[Maddie]

Talking about this whole thing. So they took it back to the dorm and brought it into the kitchen of the dorm and I guess made some delicious bear pastrami. I don't know if it was good or not, but the.

[Poodle]

You know, and there were no code violations, apparently. And however they did it, they did it the right way. Yeah. And now, Cornell, further evidence of the wussification of our educational system is saying that you can't butcher black bears in the dorm dining halls, which used to be damn near a rite of passage back when I was there.

[Maddie]

It's really sad to see traditions go by the way.

[Poodle]

We used to take the freshman football players out and make them kill a bear and drag it back barefoot and then butcher it and then feed us. Yes. Yeah. And now where's our. Where's our. Where. Where's our heritage? Where's our tradition?

[Maddie]

This took place in Ganadago Hall. Are you familiar with that hall?

[Poodle]

No. That sounds like one of those newfangled ones.

[Maddie]

It's a new Fangled woman. And a couple of the letters in it have, like, the little accents hanging off.

[Poodle]

Well, it's probably Native American. They've got. They've got some cool. Actually, like, some of the. Some of the dorms and everything are kind of Native American themed and everything. So it's probably something from the. No, I. I think that this is the thing. This little thing about Cornell is like, unlike these other Ivy Leagues, these poverty schools that don't have an ag school, we have an ag school and we got a lot of dudes, young men and women who's just like, yeah, they know how to hunt. They know how to. They know how to butcher black bears. They know how to plow a field.

[Maddie]

I love this.

[Poodle]

And it's why Cornell is the best Ivy League school. All these other Ivy League schools, they try to look down at us for having an ag school, and we're like, oh, I didn't realize we were all trying to be English aristocrats. They turn their nose up at us. I look at them like, you snooty bastards. You don't have an act school. And you're proud of it.

[Maddie]

You should.

[Poodle]

It's like, what kind of an American are you?

[Maddie]

I'd be raped.

[Poodle]

Sorry. We care about feeding people. Oh, oh, oh. You just. You don't need to lower yourself to the level of the peasants. I see. Let them eat cake.

[Maddie]

I berate.

[Poodle]

Let them eat. Let them eat bear pastrami from a deli instead of getting it on their own.

[Maddie]

That's what my daughter.

[Poodle]

Sorry, sorry. Fancy lads.

[Maddie]

Yeah, My daughter went to an Ivy League school. She's got her bear pastrami on the outside. Yeah, they didn't make their own.

[Poodle]

All right. Teach these kids how to live.

[Maddie]

That's right. That's right. All right, coming up next, that was. Acknowledge me. We do it every Monday. That was a good one. Oh, credit Aaron Raybal, by the way, our engineer on site who sent that story to me yesterday.

[Poodle]

Yeah. Thank you, Aaron.

[Maddie]

Good job, Aaron.

[Poodle]

Be lobbying the trustees this afternoon about this draconian bear policy.

[Maddie]

Does d' Amico Ryan's have a point about protect the team? There's a defensive coordinator in the NFL that thinks he does. We'll explain. If you have a podcast and want to monetize it stress free, you need the Odysee Creator lab. We'll host your podcast for free and our experienced sales team brings in the advertisers and the revenue.

[Tank Dell]

Easy.

[Maddie]

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